


Tales of Ba Sing Gay

by patroklassy



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Tea shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2016-09-13
Packaged: 2018-08-14 20:19:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8027632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patroklassy/pseuds/patroklassy
Summary: Levi is suspicious of the blond that frequents his tea-shop - an officer seeking out a criminal?Or just a cute guy seeking out a date? Based on the tale of Zuko from "The Tales of Ba Sing Se," Avatar: The Last Airbender 2.15.





	Tales of Ba Sing Gay

Levi leaned in close to Isabel under the pretext of reaching for a teacup. “Somebody’s onto us,” he murmured. “Don’t look now, but that blond jackass in the corner’s been coming in here every day for a week. He keeps watching me. I said don’t look!”

Isabel stifled a laugh with her hand. “He’s cute. Farlan and I have been calling him Commander Thighs. Did you see him in those suit pants the other day?” 

“Commander—! Isabel, _he_ _knows we were robbing those rich assholes._ ”

“Thanks for the tea.”

Isabel jumped. Levi took a deep breath and then spun to face the speaker—Commander Thighs himself. Commander Thighs dropped some coins into Levi’s hand and asked, “What’s your name?”

Shoving the coins into the register as roughly as possible, Levi said, “Levi.”

Commander Thighs smiled. “I’m particularly fond of your jasmine, Levi. I’m Erwin.”

 _Commander Thighs Erwin._ “Good for you,” Levi said. He glanced down. Commander Thighs Erwin did have great thighs. Probably because he spent so much time chasing down criminals like Levi, Farlan and Isabel. He waited to hear something like, _Would you mind if I spoke to you in private for a moment?_ Or, _Are you the man who robbed a long string of prominent businessmen in the city over the period of March to September?_ Or, _You’re going downtown, buddy!_

Erwin said, “I was wondering . . . would you like to go out sometime?”

Levi stared. His eyes narrowed. He was good at reading people. Erwin’s demeanour told him he was being . . . genuine. _What the shit, Commander Thighs._

Isabel reappeared at his side, clutching at his arm. “Big bro would _love_ to!” she declared.

Erwin turned his smile on her. “That’s great. The shop closes at six? I’ll meet Levi outside at six-ten.”

Isabel nodded enthusiastically. “He’ll be there!”

They both watched Erwin leave. “Maybe we should call him Commander Booty instead,” Isabel said, nudging Levi’s ribs.

“Do _I_ get a say in who I go out with?” Levi asked.

“No. You’re too suspicious of everyone. Without my help, you’ll be alone forever.”

“That’s not exactly an issue for me,” Levi muttered.

\--

He felt ridiculous. When he stepped outside the shop at six-twelve, he was both indignant and relieved to find that Erwin wasn’t there waiting for him. He still wasn’t convinced that the guy wasn’t some kind of officer, anyway. A cool wind blew down the street, rustling Levi’s clothes.

“You look a little different,” Erwin said, appearing from the alleyway beside the shop. He nodded at Levi’s hair. His smile was shier than it had been earlier. “It’s cute. I like it.”

Isabel had combed Levi’s hair so that it was sitting tidily and pushed back off his face. He now used a hand to muss it up again. “It took Isabel ten minutes to get it looking that shitty. Skulking in alleyways?”

“Sheltering from the breeze. Do you mind?” Erwin held out an arm.

 _What a fucking gentleman_ , Levi thought, taking it.

They went to a restaurant near the pier, where they could watch the lights of the boardwalk reflecting and rippling on the dark water. Erwin was talking about his job as a professor of history. _Historian, huh—is that a cover-up for being a cop?_ Levi leaned an elbow on the table, pushing his food around his plate. He wasn’t bored at all. He was just . . . uncertain. Could this actually be a date? He hadn’t been on a date in years.

“Your tea-shop’s new,” Erwin said. “Did you and your sister just move here recently?”

“She’s not my sister. And yes.”

“How are you liking the town so far?”

“It’s as shitty as your small-talk.”

Unexpectedly, Erwin laughed. Levi found himself staring. Erwin’s eyes crinkled when he laughed, and he had a big, lovely smile. “I’m going to need some more details from you before we can move onto the real discourse,” he said, unperturbed. “Where did you and your friend live before you came here?”

 _Well, Erwin, this is the first time we’ve had a home in almost a year and we were previously making a living by robbing anyone that pissed us off. I have probably robbed at least three of your friends._ “Two friends, actually,” Levi said. “Isabel and Farlan. Um. We were part of a touring ballet group for a while.” It was believable, probably. He had a male ballet dancer’s toned build. Probably.  

Erwin’s eyes lit up. “Ballet? Really? Did you do things like Swan Lake?”

“Yeah. I played the . . . guy.”

“The prince?” Erwin said. He was leaning forward, chin resting on his fist, obviously intrigued by this. “Would you show me something later? Even just a pirouette?”

“I suppose I could,” Levi said, noncommittally. “But I haven’t balleted or whatever in forever.”

Erwin laughed. “Danced?” They had both finished their meals. He drained the last of his gin and tonic and asked, “Feel like walking? There’s this place I want to show you.”  

They linked arms again, and Erwin led the way along the beachfront and then away from the water, towards the larger bay area. Picnic tables silvered by the moonlight dotted the edge of the pathway, and they passed in and out of the shadows of Canary Island date palms grown so large around the base that they resembled pineapples.

But when they turned off the main path, a heavy gate blocking the way brought them to a halt.

“I can’t believe it,” Erwin said, disappointed. He shook the gate a little. “I suppose it’s autumn now, isn’t it? They must lock it up at the end of summer.” 

“What’s in there?” Levi asked, putting his face to the bars. It was too dark to see much beyond more grass and trees, and the ripple of some small body of water.

“A Japanese garden,” Erwin said. He put his hands on the bars again, two of his fingers overlapping Levi’s. “It’s really beautiful. In summer they light little lanterns on the pathway late in the evening.” 

Levi could see it now; his eyes were adjusting, picking out more shapes. Rocks around the water, mosses and shrubs beyond the first short expanse of grass, a cobbled pathway winding its way towards a bridge. He immediately put his foot on the lowest cross-bar of the gate and pushed up, grasping the top so he could pull himself up the rest of the way. He managed to get a leg over and straddled the top of the gate, looking back down at Erwin. “Coming?”

It was nice being at a higher level. He could appreciate the shape of Erwin’s face better, and the proportions of his body. Levi realised he was staring again and quickly swung his other leg over, dropping to the ground on the other side.

Erwin stepped close to the bars and raised an eyebrow at him. “It won’t be the same without the lanterns,” he said. “They really make it special.”

“I can see the control box from here. Are you coming or not?”

He took a few steps back to enjoy the show as Erwin put his foot on the cross-bar and pushed and then pulled himself up. But he didn’t pause at the top as Levi had done, instead kicking his legs over in a fluid motion and landing in such a way that Levi had a very flattering view of his thighs in all their squatting glory. “Does this make us criminals?” Erwin asked, straightening and grinning.

Criminals. Cute. _You tell me, Erwin. You have the agility of a crime-fighter._ But he was, admittedly, feeling far less suspicious. It seemed this guy really had just been coming to the shop because he liked him. Or his tea. Levi led the way to the control box and between the two of them they managed to flick only three wrong switches before the electric lanterns lit up—and Levi actually forgot to breathe.

Erwin put an arm around Levi’s waist. Side-by-side, they just stood for a moment and admired it all: the warm orange lights transforming what had been a dark and dull path into a delicate and downright _magical_ scene; those same lights reflecting on the rippling water, quietly disturbed by a tiny waterfall feeding into it; the colours of the mosses and lichens and plants that looked unearthly at this hour; the looming shapes of the trees that looked like sentinels. Erwin leaned down close to him. “What do you think, Levi?”

“I think— I think—” He was going to make a smart-ass reply, his default setting. But Erwin’s presence disrupted his normal response patterns. “I think it’s really beautiful. I want to go look at more of it.” 

They strolled the pathway together, holding hands. On the bridge, Levi put a stick into Erwin’s hand and asked, “Have you ever played Poohsticks?”

Erwin looked at his stick and back at Levi, a look of consternation upon his face. “I don’t know if I want to know what that means.”

“Here.” Levi crossed to the other side of the bridge, leaning over to look down. “This is the upstream side. We drop our sticks in, and whoever’s comes out from under the bridge first wins. You never read Winnie-the-Pooh?”

“Not that particular one, apparently.” Levi could hear the smile in Erwin’s voice. He put his arm around Levi again as he joined him at the other side of the bridge, warm and solid. “Ready?”

They each held their sticks aloft. “Go,” Levi said, and turned to drag Erwin back across the bridge to witness the results. “There!” He pointed down. “The longer one’s mine. I win. You’re shit at Poohsticks. Get it?” 

Erwin just smiled at him, biting his lip.

“What?” Levi asked.

“Are you always this cute?”

“Are you always this shit at Poohsticks?”

Erwin’s smile broadened. “Let’s go again.”

They played five more times. It was silly. It required no skill whatsoever, just luck. Levi had played it with the other poor kids in his neighbourhood when he was a boy, and he couldn’t quite fathom why now, of all moments, his head had brought the memory back to him, prompting him to put that first stick into Erwin’s hand. It was the kind of stupid action that would have encouraged him to call it quits and go home on any other date. But Erwin was laughing and swearing and playing at being competitive as if it really were some kind of difficult sport.

\--

“What do I get for being champion?” Erwin asked, glowing in his glory. He had won 4:2 in the end.

They were across the bridge and wandering the path on the other side, skirting the pool’s edge and following the tiny brook that fed it. “I don’t think there’s any dignified title for the winner of Poohsticks,” Levi admitted. “I know the game’s named after the bear, but when we were kids we’d call the winner the Shit King. How do you like that?” They were already holding hands again. He did something brave and moved in closer, leaning his head against Erwin’s shoulder.

For the briefest moment, so quick Levi might have imagined it, Erwin’s lips pressed gently against the top of his head. “I think I’ll stick with Commander Thighs,” Erwin said, as if the peck hadn’t happened.

It took a moment for the meaning of that to sink in. When it did, Levi stopped abruptly and leaned away from him, stunned. “How the hell do you know about that?” he demanded.

Erwin kept walking. “Know about what?” he said over his shoulder, flashing Levi a grin.

“Your thighs are just average!” Levi called after him. Possibly the biggest lie he had ever told.

“In that case, lucky I’ve still got this booty!” Erwin called back, and wiggled his hips a little for emphasis.

Levi considered running up and kicking him for being so cheeky. Instead, he jogged to catch up to him and resumed his place at Erwin’s side, head resting comfortably on his shoulder. He put his arm around Erwin’s waist to hold himself in place. “Isabel’s words, not mine,” he said.

“Well, you can tell Isabel I’m terribly flattered, but I’ve already got my eye on someone else.” He squeezed Levi’s shoulder, as if it wasn’t obvious who he was talking about. Levi’s heart beat a little faster.

After another quarter of an hour of wandering, they returned to the water’s edge and sat themselves down on a grassy patch. Erwin positioned himself behind Levi, legs to either side of him and arms around his waist, his chin resting on his shoulder. “Is this okay?” he murmured.

It was more than okay. Levi leaned back into him. Had it only been today that Erwin had asked him out in the teashop? That seemed impossible.

“Would you like to see me again?” Erwin asked. “Be honest.”

It was easier to be honest when he didn’t have to look at Erwin, his gaze instead resting upon the gentle ripples on the surface of the little rocky-edged pool. “Yeah. Tomorrow. And the day after that.”

“And the day after that?”

“Yeah.” Levi took a breath, forcing the feeling of Erwin’s arms around him into his memory. Then he shifted, turning to face him. For a moment, they just looked at each other.

Erwin lifted a hand to brush Levi’s hair back, pushing it away from his face. His gaze flicked to Levi’s lips, his eyes, his lips, his eyes again. Searching for permission, or making up his mind?

Levi felt a rush of impatience. He wanted to kiss him. But it was obvious that Erwin intended to make the first move here. “Crap or get off the pot, Erwin,” he said. He tried to say it teasingly. It came off rough and rude.  

But Erwin kissed him.

First, their lips just grazed. Erwin was still hesitant—searching for permission, Levi decided. He leaned in a little closer, lifting a hand to Erwin’s neck, his thumb on his cheek. Erwin took it as the answer it was intended to be, and suddenly deepened the kiss. And good fucking God, he was a great kisser. Levi moved his hand a little and his fingers found the pulse beneath Erwin’s jaw, heart beat pattering swiftly. He didn’t mean to but he smiled into the kiss, and Erwin pulled away to look at him.

“Something wrong?” Levi asked.

Erwin leaned forward again to place three kisses along Levi’s cheekbone. “Nothing,” he said softly. “You just have a nice smile.”

“Drink it in. It’s rarer than a hot historian.”  

“I do hear those are rare,” Erwin said, putting his forehead to Levi’s, courteously waiting for a response before kissing him again.

Levi smiled more. And he kissed Erwin again.

\--

Levi watched Erwin climb back over the gate. When he straightened, Levi took his hand and they started walking back through the bay together. They had already decided they would meet up again tomorrow night.

Under the moonlight, everything, including the grass they walked on, looked carved of pale stone. “Erwin?” Levi said.

Erwin squeezed his hand. “Yeah?”

“You’re not an officer, are you? Or a secret agent or something?”

Erwin laughed. “I wish. No, I’m just a historian. Though I have enough detective skills to know you were lying—very badly—about being a ballet dancer.”

“Okay.”

“Why do you ask?”

Levi shrugged. “No reason.”

\--

They kissed goodnight on the doorstep. When Levi left Erwin and went inside, Isabel and Farlan were still up washing the last of the shop’s dishes. “Well?” Isabel said, almost dropping a teacup in her enthusiasm as she turned to him. “How was your date with Commander Thighs?”

Levi crossed the room and slammed the door to his bedroom as loudly as he could without breaking it, just to show Isabel he was still annoyed she had set a date up for him at all.

But then he opened the door again and paused a moment. “It was really nice,” he said quietly.


End file.
